hi, i'm new to the board and i have a '92 SI.

i have a problem though: the valves are quite loud, and i have a bog between 2-3000 rpms..i'm also getting crappy gas mileage which leads me to believe that the timing is off a tooth or two and i need a valve adjustment. so i went to the shop and they agreed.

secondly, just today the engine started making a new sound. it's louder then valve ticking and not as frequent. it sounds like maybe i spun a bearing, but it doesn't seem loud enough to be that. and i only can only hear it between 2-3000 rpms and only at nice medium throttle and sometimes when i let off the gas. when i floor it, i can't hear it.

now, the car was ran a little low on oil (b/c i didn't realize when i got it that it ran through so much oil)/ it wasn't ran low enough for an oil light to come on though. and when i put oil in it, the ticking/knocking got slightly better.

my CEL comes on after the car warms up. it's code 12 which is egr. it also looses a little power when the car warms up also. i'm not sure if this has to do with the the ticking/knocking or not.

what do i do? my dad says the engine is screwed. i'm not really sure. do i dare drive it like it is? i've heard lots of things a spun bearing, a wrist pin, loose things or screwed up lifters but i don't know what it is.

any help very appreciated.

 

mine's been making that noise for quite some time. From what we were able to find using the old school scope (big *** screw driver up against your ear) it seems to actually be comming from the top end by the distributor... it's like a knocking sound, not always there, but on mine atleast gets louder and more frequent as the oil level drops. It's also easy to hear on mine when the car is idling and you put the windows down and hold the button down so it makes the car idle lower. Same bog as you, etc. I'm still driving on it, just making sure the oil is good. It's been doing it now for like 15,000 miles heh

 

do you also have the same egr problem?

 

hmmm. change the egr sensor. as for the distributor... it sounds like its fucked up. i would change it before the bearing inside freezes up like mine did.

 

well, i've gotten some advice from more car knowledgeable people than I and it's come down to a screwed rod and maybe bearing problems.

i have a few choices here:

-i can put new parts in the h23 block i have now. (has 104,000 miles).
-i can find a new or used h23 block and try to salvage parts out of the old h23 to sell
-find a used or new h22a and also try to salvage parts from the h23

it's probably the cheapest if i just put new parts in the old block..but then i still have have oil burning problem. honestly, i would love a h22a, but i'm not sure the costs of something like that..i imagine it would be up there. any suggestions?

any ideas on where to get cheap engines/parts?